Relaxing Ride (Tag: Alidia)

Alidia smiled sweetly as she kissed him.
"I know you do my desert god..."

"I'm glad you know that.  I love you, Alidia, and I would never be false.  Now, do you mind if I ask a question next?" Rahim inquired.

Alidia nodded her head and smiled. "Go ahead and I love you too."

"Did you have any friends?  Before you came to this school?" Rahim asked.  He wondered about the friends that she had left behind.

Alidia blushed as she looked away. "I-- I-- I don't remember..." 

"Because of that boy?  I see.  I keep wishing that I could learn more about who you were before all this.  But that's proving difficult to do." Rahim said to her.

Alidia still looked away. "I'm so sorry... I wished that I could remember..." 

"For what it's worth, I didn't have many friends.  A band of thieves isn't normally welcoming to an orphan that's not human.  Well...actually, there was this one person..." Rahim said, thoughtfully.

Alidia slowly turned around as she took ahold of his hand. "Who was it my love? I want to thank them..." She blushed. 

"His name was Zen-Aku.  I didn't figure it out until later, but he was under a curse.  That's why he looked the way he did.  But despite his own problems, he treated me like a friend.  He even encouraged my love of music." Rahim explained.

Alidia smiled. "I want to thank him..." 

"I'm sure you would.  But this lone wolf goes where the wind takes him.  I don't know how I would contact him.  The only thing I have of him is the very song he always played on his flute.  He taught it to me when he saw how much it relaxed me." Rahim told her.

Alidia smiled again with her smile widening "I would like to hear it if that is okay. If it reminds you of him..." 

"Alright.  He had several variations of his song.  This is the version I liked the most." Rahim said as he reached into one of the bags on Sauris' saddle.  He produced a wooden flute and began to play.

Alidia felt so relaxed as her ears were being filled with the wonderful music. "Rahim... It's so wonderful..." she cooed. Her eyes began to drop as she slowly began to let go unknowing of her grip. "Mmm..." 

"Whoa, careful.  Don't want any accidents here.  And it is relaxing.  Sometimes at night, I think I hear him playing his song." Rahim told her, wrapping an arm around her to keep her from falling.

Alidia smiled as she opened her eyes and wrapped herself around Rahim once more and gasped when she heard the music again and Rahim wasn't playing. "rrrRahim... I think somebody is out there..." 

Rahim listened.  Sure enough, it was the same tune.  Now he knew for sure that he wasn't imagining it.  Not if Alidia could hear it too.
"Let's see where that's coming from." he thought out loud.  He turned Sauris toward the source of the sound.

Alidia held herself close to Rahim. "Do you think it might be your friend?" she asked as she heard the sound getting more louder and sweeter. 

"Do I think it's Zen-Aku?  It could be.  He's the only other one who knows that song after he taught it to me.  And if it is him, I wonder what he's doing here." Rahim answered.

Alidia smiled as she shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know but I would be honored to thank the wonderful person who made you sociable." She giggled as the music made her eyes drop again. "soooo beautiful..." she said dreamily as the music was getting louder. 

"I'm almost certain that's him.  No one could play that song so flawlessly." Rahim said, some excitement showing in his voice.  He started to pick up the scent of water.  Whoever was playing that music was close to a pond or lake perhaps.

Alidia simply nodded as her eyes began to look glassy. "yes..." she said dreamily as her grip dropped once more. 

Rahim had been keeping his hold on Alidia after turning Sauris.  The trees started to clear away, revealing a sizable stream.  As the young Muktar looked around, his eyes settled on a figure dressed all in black sitting by the stream.  Aside from the wolf face, the figure appeared to be a very fit man.  Rahim knew this meant his old friend's curse was still active.

Alidia snapped her eyes open when she saw the young man. 'This might be Rahim's friend... The poor dear... I should make myself known' Alidia jumped from the marvelous creature and began walking towards the person. "Hi.... I'm Alidia and I won't mean any harm..."